BY DHANANJAY PATHAK
Longines has been killing it recently by recently releasing stunning modern re-issues of watches from its rich historical past. However, there is much more to the brand outside of the heritage collection and the new Master Collection Annual Calendar watches are a testimony to this. Presented in a variety of dial variations, offering a not so common and useful complication, and most of all priced appropriately, Longines seems to have another winner up its sleeves. Let’s have a quick look.
The master collection from Longines comprises elegant and dressy timepieces that are best suited for those formal occasions and the new annual calendar timepieces blend in effortlessly. Starting from the face, there are three different colors, two different textures and three different layouts on offer to suit different needs. Looking for something more traditional, choose from either the black dial with Roman numerals or the cream dial with Arabic numerals both of which have been presented with a beautiful guilloche pattern. In the mood for something more modern, Longines has you covered with a blue sunburst dial with applied hour markers. Common to all dials is a chapter ring on the outer periphery, elegant leaf-shaped handset, and a dual window that displays the month of the year and the date.
The case on these new annual calendar watches is crafted from stainless steel and comes in two different sizes; a modest 40mm for smaller or medium wrists and a 42mm for relatively larger wrists. There is a sapphire crystal on both front and back, and water resistance is limited to just 30 meters.
Powering these watches is the Longines caliber L897, the same movement that was present under the hood of the 50 millionth Longines watch that we talked about last year. This automatic movement operates at an unusual 25,200 VPH and offers a healthy autonomy of around 64 hours. Apart from normal timekeeping, this movement offers the annual calendar functionality that enables the wearer to seamlessly track the date, with a manual intervention needed only when switching from 28th or 29th February to 1st March. It has been nicely decorated and can be enjoyed through the exhibition case back.
In all, priced at EUR 1,920 on a leather strap and EUR 1,980 on a bracelet these new Annual Calendar watches are yet another great value proposition from Longines.
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